The Lord Raises Adversaries

9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had ⁱappeared to him twice 10 and had ^jcommanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. 11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely ^ktear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. 12 Yet ^lfor the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give ^mone tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and ⁿfor the sake of Jerusalem that I have ^ochosen.”

14 And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom. 15 For ^pwhen David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, he struck down every male in Edom 16 (for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom). 17 But Hadad fled to Egypt, together with certain Edomites of his father’s servants, Hadad still being a little child. 18 They set out from Midian and came to Paran and took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him an allowance of food and gave him land. 19 And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. 20 And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh. 21 But when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.” 22 But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked with me that you are now seeking to go to your own country?” And he said to him, “Only let me depart.”

23 God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master ^qHadadezer king of Zobah. 24 And he gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band, after ^rthe killing by David. And they went to Damascus and lived there and made him king in Damascus. 25 He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, doing harm as Hadad did. And he loathed Israel and reigned over Syria.

26 ^sJeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also ^tlifted up his hand against the king. 27 And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built the ^uMillo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father. 28 The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. 29 And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet ^vAhijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. 30 Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and ^wtore it into twelve pieces. 31 And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes 32 (but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), 33 because they have¹ forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did. 34 Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes. 35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and will give it to you, ten tribes. 36 Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have a ^xlamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to ^yput my name. 37 And I will take you, and you shall ^zreign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. 38 And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a ^asure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. 39 And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, ^bbut not forever.’” 40 Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to ^cShishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt ^duntil the death of Solomon.

41 ^eNow the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? 42 And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. 43 And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

Great Are the Lord’s Works

Greeting

1 Paul, an ^aapostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To the saints and ^bfaithful brothers¹ in Christ at Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

3 ^cWe always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since ^dwe heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the ^ehope ^flaid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the ^gword of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed ^hin the whole world it is ⁱbearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you ^jheard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from ^kEpaphras our beloved fellow servant.² He is a faithful minister of Christ on your³ behalf 8 and has made known to us your ^llove in the Spirit.

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have ^mnot ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge ⁿof his will in ^oall spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to ^pwalk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: ^qbearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being ^rstrengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks⁴ to the Father, who has qualified you⁵ to share in the ^sinheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has ^tdelivered us from the ^udomain of darkness and ^vtransferred us to the kingdom of his ^wbeloved Son, 14 in whom we have ^xredemption, the ^yforgiveness of sins.

The Preeminence of Christ

15 He is the ^zimage of the ^ainvisible God, ^bthe firstborn of all creation. 16 For ^cby⁶ him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^dthrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is ^ebefore all things, and in him all things ^fhold together. 18 And he is the ^ghead of the body, the church. He is ^hthe beginning, ⁱthe firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be ^jpreeminent. 19 For in him all the ^kfullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him ^lto reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^mmaking peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, ⁿwho once were ^oalienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now ^preconciled ^qin his body of flesh by his death, ^rin order to present you ^sholy and blameless and ^tabove reproach before him, 23 ^uif indeed you continue in the faith, ^vstable and ^wsteadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation⁷ under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a ^xminister.

Paul’s Ministry to the Church

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am ^yfilling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his ^zbody, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the ^astewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the ^bmystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them ^cGod chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the ^driches of the glory of this ^emystery, which is Christ ^fin you, the ^ghope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone ^hmature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling ⁱwith all his energy that he powerfully ^jworks within me.

1 For I want you to know how great a ^kstruggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be ^lencouraged, being ^mknit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s ⁿmystery, which is Christ, 3 ^oin whom are hidden ^pall the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am ^qabsent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good ^rorder and the ^sfirmness of your faith in Christ.

Alive in Christ

6 Therefore, ^tas you ^ureceived Christ Jesus the Lord, so ^vwalk in him, 7 ^wrooted and ^xbuilt up in him and established in the faith, just as you were ^ytaught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one ^ztakes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human ^atradition, according to the ^belemental spirits⁸ of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole ^cfullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and ^dyou have been filled in him, who is the ^ehead of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were ^fcircumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by ^gputting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been ^hburied with him in ⁱbaptism, in which you were also ^jraised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, ^kwho raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were ^ldead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 ^mby ⁿcanceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the ^orulers and authorities⁹ and put them to open shame, by ^ptriumphing over them in him.¹⁰

Let No One Disqualify You

16 Therefore ^qlet no one pass judgment on you in questions of ^rfood and drink, or ^swith regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a ^tshadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one ^udisqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,^{11 v}puffed up ^wwithout reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the ^xHead, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, ^ywhy, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 ^z“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 ^a(referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^bhuman precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in ^cstopping the indulgence of the flesh.